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Welcome to Tony Mobily, TUX Magazine's new editor

Phil Hughes writes:

The idea of TUX is about two years old. In those two years, we have proved that:

Linux is ready for the desktop.

People using or wanting to use desktop Linux are ready for TUX.

Our initial vision was to bring useful how-to information to the new Linux user. If anything, that readership vision has expanded to include people who, although they may have used Linux, are new to desktop Linux and/or are new to using a graphical user interface with Linux on the desktop.

The vision for TUX comes from what I have learned while publishing Linux Journal and from more than ten years of using Linux as my only desktop. In addition, although I have used an assortment of graphical user interfaces, the official company desktop has been KDE-based for about eight years. KDE was just a baby back then, but I felt it was the future of the Linux desktop. I have decided that I need to invest more time in making sure TUX is on-track with the vision.

Those eight years of bringing newcomers to Linux and KDE can now be used to help TUX readers get up to speed with desktop Linux.

In addition, I know that although TUX is very inexpensive, the fact that we are now charging for subscriptions will raise subscriber expectations. I intend to make sure you are not disappointed. In fact, the first item on our list was to get a search feature for magazine back issues up on the TUX Web site. You can find that feature by clicking on the Search Back Issues link below the current cover on the left column of the http://tuxmagazine.com Web site.

To help us move forward, I have asked Tony Mobily to join the TUX team as Editor. Tony is a computer consultant, journalist and Zen Buddhist. He lives in Australia, working as a magazine editor and consultant. Tony has been an active member of the Open Source movement for many years. In 2004, Tony founded Free Software Magazine (http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com), a popular publication about free and open-source software. He is also the author of the book Hardening Apache and several articles about Linux and open-source software. Tony initially will take on working with authors to secure quality how-to articles for TUX and make sure that we are addressing readers’ questions and concerns. Beyond that, Tony and I will be working with the rest of the staff to make TUX bigger and better in the future.

Here is Tony's own introduction.

"When I was offered the position of TUX editor, I felt very privileged. I had been reading TUX since issue 1 and had a really strong deja-vu feeling. Many years ago, when Linux Journal started, nobody believed that Linux could possibly end up on mission-critical servers doing “real

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First, I'd like to welcome Tony aboard as Editor. At the same time, it almost seems as if the editor's chair is located inside a revolving door. What is this, the third editor since TUX launched 18 issues ago?

I also have a question about a comment made by Phil Hughes:

although I have used an assortment of graphical user interfaces, the official company desktop has been KDE-based for about eight years. KDE was just a baby back then, but I felt it was the future of the Linux desktop. I have decided that I need to invest more time in making sure TUX is on-track with the vision.

Since that vision seems to be KDE-centric, I take it we can look forward to less rather than more coverage of not only GNOME but also of window-manager and desktop environment-independent applications. I personally see KDE as the Windows of the Linux world. It's big (too big for my tastes or needs), and increasingly, too much of its pieces are intertwined, which means I can't (or at least not easily) install a particular KDE application I might want without installing several other pieces I don't want and will never use.

Before I am dismissed as a member of the geek minority, let me assure you I'm not. I don't code, I'm not all that comfortable around the command line, and I don't compile my own applications. I just happen to not like using KDE, which I consider bloated and slow on my machines, and I don't feel like spending more money on newer faster hardware just so KDE will feel fast on my machines.

Sadly, as much as I have enjoyed TUX since issue 1, I don't think I'm ready to pay for a magazine that appears to planning to focus solely on coverage of KDE issues and applications. I hope I'm wrong about where I see TUX heading, but Phil's comment does not bode well, at least not from where I'm sitting.

Let me distinguish between desktop and applications. TUX is a how-to magazine. The majority of the content is about how to get what you want done. That is, writing a document, sending email, keeping track of your finances and so on. If you aren't a geek, those are the reasons you have a computer and it is our responsibility to show you how to get those tasks done using a Linux-based desktop.

More applications are desktop agnostic. That is, you just run them and they work the same--whether you are using KDE, Gnome or any of a number of light-weight desktop environments. This is one of the amazing things about Linux-- you don't have to get the "KDE version" or the "Gnome verson".

That said, we are not going to tell you that you need to use Koffice rather than OpenOffice because OpenOffice is based on GTK, the toolkit that Gnome is based on. Koffice and OpenOffice are both office suites and each one has a set of advantages and disadvantages. If you don't know about them, just keep reading TUX. You will.

A few articles will be KDE-specific. For example, we show you how to configure KDE itself. If you aren't using KDE and don't want to learn about these KDE-specific items, skip the article. There won't be a lot of them but there will be some.

The distinction here is, again, what we mean by how-to. We mean "don't tell me what's inside or what the politics are but, rather, show me how to get my job done'. If that's what you need, TUX is for you.

I recognize the intent of the magazine; after all, I've been a subscriber since issue one. However, it seems that an increasing number of the applications you write about do require KDE or KDE libraries, even if you aren't running KDE on your machine. Or, if not KDE, then GNOME. This certainly doesn't sound desktop agnostic. Yes, I can run them from XFCE or IceWM, but I need either the KDE or the GNOME libraries to do so.

In looking back through the previous 17 issues, I've seen quite a few articles on KDE-specific applications, a lesser number of articles on GNOME-specific applications, several articles that talk about both KDE and GNOME applications, and fewer still that talk about applications that either don't require KDE or GNOME or don't mention such a requirement (and one of those was a $60 application).

Where are the alternatives, for instance to Amarok or kdetv? What about an occasional bone for those of us who like to run a lighter desktop environment? We don't all have time to scour the internet trying to find such things. If such applications don't exist for a particular purpose, how about mentioning that at least or perhaps even going so far as to call for truly independent choices? Even some of us who have been around Linux for a while can still rightly be considered new users who don't know everything that's out there. Just a thought.

The advantage of Linux, IMHO, is that there are many ways that lead to Rome, or how to get your job done.

My experience with TUX, however, is that mostly only the KDE way is shown. You are lucky that I can't pay online, because if I could (and maybe at some time I can), I wouldn't spend it om TUX. Just because it's such as waste; I skip more than half of every magazine.